Global Links
Global Learning at Cockton Hill Junior School
At CHJS, we believe that developing our children as global citizens is vitally important. We have been awarded with our International Schools Award by the British Council which recognises what schools achieve in fostering and embracing a global dimension in all that they do.
Our international partner school is Alpha Boarding School in Pokhara, Nepal.
RRSA Article Links
Article 28: All children have the right to a good quality education.
Article 29: All children have the right to an education, which develops talents and abilities.
Article 42: All children have the right to know about their rights.
Our International Work
International School Award 2021-2024
The International School Award (ISA) celebrates the achievements of schools that do exceptional work in international education. Fostering an international dimension in the curriculum is at the heart of the British Council’s work with schools, so that young people gain the cultural understanding and skills they need for life work in today’s world.
We are delighted to announce that we have been reaccredited with the International School Award. This supports our ethos as a Gold Rights Respecting school, as we are committed to developing our pupils as global citizens through our international work in school and with our partner schools.
Feedback from our assessors: “It was great to read through your activities and hear what your pupils have been up to on the interntional scene. Your work is inspirational and your commitment to international awareness and growing your pupils into global citizens is admirable.”
Well done to everyone at CHJS!
Connecting Classrooms
We secured funding through Connecting Classrooms which has allowed two visits to our partner school, Alpha Boarding School (ABS) in Nepal. It has also supported a reciprocal visit from the Principal of ABS, Shiva Bagale, to our school. Firstly, in February 2018, Mrs Stevens and Miss Trow travelled to ABS. They flew from Newcastle to Dubai and then from Dubai to Kathmandu and finally from Kathmandu to Pokhara. The staff and children at the school were very friendly and asked lots of questions. They enjoyed looking at all of the work children at CHJS has prepared for them. Staff were able to share lots of learning about education in both countries and compare similarities and differences. They were very lucky to be a part of ABS’s presentation assembly, observe lessons, share lunch with staff and pupils and teach an English lesson to pupils. Here are some pictures from their time in Nepal.
Shiva Bagale (Principal of ABS) visited our school in June 2018. He took part in school life working alongside our classes to teach them about the culture in Nepal. He also took an active part in the work our visiting author Adam Bushnell completed with classes. On the Friday of Shiva’s week in school, we celebrated CHJS’s 110th birthday and had a great day reflecting on our school’s history.
In February 2020, Miss Legge, Miss Trow and Mr Cresswell (Chair of Governors) visited ABS. They completed the same journey Mrs Stevens and Miss Trow had previously travelled. Again, the staff took part in school life at ABS. Miss Legge and Miss Trow taught some lessons and Mr Cresswell enjoyed taking part in question and answer sessions where the children asked him all about life in the UK. They were able to take part in ABS’s wonderful celebrations and even take part in some Nepalese dancing! In school, we continue to learn about the Nepalese culture and how different it is from the culture in the UK.
A Message from Shiva Bagale, Principal of ABS
Namaste from Nepal,
An email from Rebecca Trow on August 15, 2017 opened the door for Alpha Boarding School in Pokhara, Nepal to connect with Cockton Hill Junior School in Bishop Auckland. We had applied for the ISA in Nepal and had submitted our project work to the British Council here and were very keen on collaborating with a school in the UK when the email served as a real wonder. I, as the Principal of Alpha Boarding School, an English medium co-educational school from pre-nursery to grade 10, was looking forward to an opportunity for my students and for myself to connect with an English school so it could help promote English teaching and learning in our school here.
We had an opportunity to welcome Mrs Stevens and Miss Trow in school in February 2018. We then started a project together in which our students from both the schools wrote letters sharing their cultures, ways of life, school and families.
We won the International School Award for 2016-19 here in Nepal and CHJS won the award in the UK too. How wonderful!
I feel really very grateful to the British Council, UK, the school governors, Mrs Stevens and everyone concerned for making all the arrangements for me to visit Cockton Hill Junior School in July 2019. My visit to the UK and the wonderful school family has been a milestone in my professional career. Meeting with the CHJS teachers, Adam Bushnell (an author and storyteller), Malcolm Cresswell (the Chair of governors) and surely the most wonderful students at CHJS was just GREAT.
We are on a journey to go together ahead collaborating on our work and allowing opportunities for our students to learn through exchanging cultures and learning at schools in quite different worlds. Mr Cresswell, Miss Trow and Miss Legge’s visit to Nepal in February last year has added to our togetherness in learning and sharing educational practices in our schools.
My sincere thanks are conveyed to the British Council Nepal and UK, Mrs Stevens, Miss Trow, Miss Legge and in fact everyone that has made our relationship possible. I hope we will continue to work together for our students to learn from each other.
Shiva Kumar Bagale – Principal, Alpha Boarding School, Pokhara
Christmas Decoration Exchange
In November 2020 we were lucky enough to participate in a European Christmas decoration exchange led by the local authority – one of only 12 schools in County Durham chosen to do this. As a result, we made decorations to send across Europe and in return we received decorations from 22 schools in 13 different countries. We learnt a lot about school life and how Christmas is celebrated across Europe from information packs that each school sent along with the decorations.
Traditional Tales
To follow on from our Connecting Classrooms visit, Year 3 planned a project around storytelling in partnership with Alpha Boarding School. The children began by writing letters to introduce themselves. They then choose two popular traditional tales to share with the children in Nepal. They choose Hansel and Gretel and Jack and the Beanstalk. We shared these stories orally and created story books to send to ABS. We very much look forward to receiving some traditional tales from Nepal.
Introductions and sharing art with Brazil
Pupils in Year 6 produced artwork to share with Colegio Ecos. The children were provided with half photographs of their faces and used their art skills to complete the drawing of the other half. These were then sent to Brazil to introduce themselves. Alongside this, pupils wrote acrostic poems about themselves to introduce facts about them, including their likes and dislikes. Children have received emails, photos and letters from Colegio Ecos allowing them to compare similarities and differences between England and Brazil.
UNICEF Outright Campaign
Article 22: You have the right to special protection and help is you are a refugee.
The whole school took part in the UNICEF Outright campaign which is focused on the rights of refugee children. Children completed a project where they developed their knowledge and understanding of children’s rights, learned about the impact of the refugee crisis on children’s right to protection and right to family reunification and finally campaigned to our local MP to fix the family reunion laws. This project empowers pupils to speak out about the importance of children’s rights. We started the project on World Children’s Day through an assembly introducing the Outright campaign to our school. This explained to children why it is important for children and young people to get involved. We then read the story of Paddington Bear and discussed the theme of family separation and thought of any questions which we had about child refugees. We then focused on learning about two articles from the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and how these two rights affect refugee children in the UK today, and refugee children trying to reach family in the UK. We looked at the terms ‘refugee’ and ‘migrant’ and discussed what people may think when they hear these words. This led us to a discussion about thinking critically about things we hear in the news and other places about refugees. We played a thumbs up thumbs down game to discuss which statements were true and which were lies. We thought about the challenges, difficulties and dangers that refugees face internationally and the UK.
Interfaith Week
Article 30: You have the right to practice your own culture, language and religion.
As part of Interfaith Week, we looked at the importance and understanding of diversity and differences in religious beliefs. We each made a peace mala bracelet to reflect on the importance of tolerance and diversity. We discussed the statement ‘Treat others as you would wish them to treat you’. We enjoyed making our peace mala bracelets and learning about the different religious represented by each colour bead.
Fairtrade
Article 2: The Convention applies to everyone whatever their race, religion and abilities.
Article 24: You have the right to good quality health care, clean water, nutritious food, a clean safe environment and information to help you stay well.
Pupils celebrated Fairtrade fortnight beginning with an assembly to introduce and remind pupils of the importance of Fairtrade. This allowed us to share issues that face our global society, where our food comes from, interconnectedness, sustainable development and the power of the individual. Children explored the meaning of Fairtrade and why we should buy Fairtrade products. Children then took their learning home and completed a range of activities to show their understanding of protecting the rights of farmers, ensuring a fair income and good working conditions. Pupils completed activities such as: writing an acrostic poem about Fairtrade, creating a Wordle, designing a T-shirt, making a new logo, making smoothies using Fairtrade fruit and exploring shops in our local area which sell Fairtrade products.
European Awareness
We linked up with Ecole Faubourg de Hem to enrich our French curriculum. Children have studied the language and culture of France and explored the similarities and differences between French and British cultures. Children learn to understand and speak the French language around a range of topics progressing as they go through school (e.g. greetings, school, food and local area). Pupils have used the language to introduce their local area where some children drew a map and labelled key features in French and other pupils developed a paragraph of writing about their local area. Children have also explored French cuisine and produced menus including these.
Indian Dance
Through PE pupils in Year 4 have explored Indian dance. They began by creating a group dance inspired by a classical Indian dance style. They explored images and videos of traditional moves which they used to inspire them of how to move. After exploring professional dances in the Bollywood style pupils wrote down keywords to describe the dance style thinking about: size of steps, directions, levels, speeds, parts of the body used, costumes and music.
Commonwealth
Article 2: The Convention applies to everyone whatever their race, religion and abilities.
Children in Year 3 participated in the Commonwealth Class project to celebrate the Commonwealth Games. This helped children explore the world beyond their classroom and learn more about the Commonwealth values. Children explored the Commonwealth firstly through an assembly on Commonwealth Day where they were given information about what the Commonwealth is. hey explored the countries in the Commonwealth through a quiz where they had to identify the countries and guess the connection between them. We looked at the history and the current work of the Commonwealth. They used the ipads to explore and carry out some research on a Commonwealth country of their choice exploring the landmarks, capital city and languages spoken.
